3Rd grade writing help: 6 ways to help your 3rd grader with writing

Third Grade Writing Skills | 3rd Grade Writing Activities

Third Grade

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Give Them the Tools

The most important way you can help your child develop their writing is by giving them a pencil, notebook, paper, colored pencils, small stapler and a place to write. Keep their supplies in a special basket or spot so they can grab what they need whenever the mood to write strikes them!

Display It

Put their writing on the refrigerator or tape it to the wall to show how proud you are. Ask your child to reread their writing so you can listen. When children make the connection that their writing is meaningful, they’ll be excited to write more.

Create a Personal Dictionary

Take seven sheets of blank copy paper and fold them in half, stapling the fold to create a book. On the cover have them write “My Dictionary”. Show your child how to write one letter of the alphabet on the top of each page. Keep this at home so they can write their new sight words in it each week or words they ask you to spell. Encourage them to draw a small picture to help remind them what the word means. For example, If the word is “laugh” have them draw a laughing face in the letter g. This is an empowering technique for children to take ownership of learning and using new words.

Keep a Journal

Give your child a notebook that is just for them. Show them how to keep a journal by writing the date at the top of the page. Then make it their choice: Is this a nature journal where they can write about cool things they’ve explored and learned outside? Or is this a feelings journal, where they can write about what’s happened to them that day? Or a Minecraft journal? Let them decide. Try a Question-a-day journal, such as this one.

The point of a journal is to encourage writing in a relaxed setting. Tell them their writing doesn’t need to make sense and it isn’t graded. They can write sloppily, draw lots of pictures and they don’t even need to share what they write with anyone.

Be the Family Card Maker

Have your child be the person who creates cards for special occasions. Fold a piece of paper in half and help them write a special birthday card for a family member. These activities show your child that their writing matters and someone will get to enjoy their hard work.

Look at a Writing Checklist for their Grade

As parents, sometimes it’s hard to understand what is expected of our children’s writing. Use these checklists to help guide your expectations for their writing.

3rd Grade Narrative Writing Checklist
3rd Grade Informational Writing Checklist
3rd Grade Opinion Writing Checklist

Write a Report

Third graders love to talk about what they know! Have them make a report about something they like using a few pieces of paper stapled together. Ask them to draw a picture on the cover and help them create a title such as, “Why Are Zebras So Unique?” Let them do the research and writing.

A Moment to Remember

Did something happen that left your family laughing until they cried? Did your child discover something exciting, like a bird’s nest? Or did your child endure a very annoying situation, like the time they broke their arm?

Children will learn that their life is worth writing about and that these everyday moments are what the best stories are made from. Have your child describe what happened and record it into a story.

Frequently Asked Questions About Third Grade Writing

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50 Creative Third Grade Writing Prompts (Free Printable!)

Taking the leap from the primary level to the intermediate grades.

Third grade is a huge transitional year in elementary school. Third grade writers have learned foundational concepts and skills and have had time to practice. Now they are developing more complex skills as they dig deeper, learn to make connections, and analyze the topics they write about. Here are 50 third grade writing prompts to help your students master and refine their writing skills.

If you’d like even more upper elementary writing prompts, we publish new ones twice a week on our kid-friendly site: the Daily Classroom Hub. Make sure to bookmark the link!

(Want this entire set in one easy document? Get your free PowerPoint bundle by submitting your email here, so you’ll always have the prompts available!)

1. Tell about a special event in your life.

2. What are you best at?

3. What do you want to learn more about?

4. I could never live without______.

5. If you could go anyplace in the world, where would you go and why?

6. Interview one of your parents or grandparents and ask them to tell you a story from their childhood. Share their story here.

7. Describe one of your favorite book characters. Tell three things about their personality.

8.

Do you think third graders should have to do chores at home? Why or why not?

9. What is something you would change about school if you could?

10. Tell about a time you helped somebody.

11. Tell about a time somebody helped you.

12. Tell about a memorable “first” in your life. For example, the first time you ate a particular kind of food, the first time you met your teacher, etc.

13. Describe step by step how to make a pizza.

14. What does it mean to be a hero?

15. I am afraid of _______ because_______.

16. What is the difference between being polite and rude? Give three examples.

17. What is the most important rule in the classroom?

18. What are the three most important qualities you look for in a friend?

19. Do you think kids should be assigned homework? Why or why not?

20. Nature gives us many beautiful things—plants, animals, water, weather, stars and planets, etc.

What is one of your favorite things in nature and why?

21. If I were a spider, I’d _______.

22. Three things that make me happy are ______.

23. What is your favorite holiday and why?

24. Tell about one of your family’s unique traditions.

25. If you could have a pet, what would you choose? How would you take care of it?

26. Write about a dream you recently had.

27. Tell about a person that inspires you and why.

28. Name five things you are thankful for and why you are thankful for them.

29. What are ways you can be a good citizen?

30. When you and a friend disagree, how do you work it out?

31. What do you think the world will be like in one hundred years?

32. What is your favorite type of weather? Why?

33. What superpower do you wish you had? Why?

34. What famous person would you like to meet? Why?

35.

In your opinion, which animal makes the best pet? Give three reasons for your answer.

36. If someone gave you $100, how would you spend it?

37. Should third graders have cell phones? Why or why not?

38. If you could be an Olympic athlete, what sport would you participate in?

39. Write about your “getting ready for school” routine.

40. Write about your “getting ready for bed” routine.

41. If you could travel through time like Jack and Annie in the Magic Tree House, where would you go?

42. In your opinion, what does a perfect weekend look like?

43. Write about the last time you felt really angry. What happened and how did it all work out?

44. Pretend there was a special zoo where animals could talk. Which animal would you talk to and what are three questions you would ask?

45. What is your favorite thing with wheels? Why?

46.

Tell the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears from the point of view of Baby Bear.

47. What do you think would grow if you planted a magic bean?

48. Which would you rather be able to do—fly or read people’s minds? Why?

49. Tell about an adult in your life that you admire.

50. If you were traveling for a week and could only bring a backpack, what would you pack?

Get My Third Grade Writing Prompts

Love these third grade writing prompts? Make sure to check out our third grade jokes to start the day !

Learning to write presentations in elementary school – article – Corporation Russian textbook (Drofa-Ventana publishing house)

Presentation in grades 1-4

Presentation is a written retelling of an exemplary heard or read text. Presentations and essays are considered as the most effective exercises in the development of coherent speech of students. Along with other types of work in elementary school, they teach the basic skills of working with text, activate mental and creative activity.
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Statements

In relation to the volume of the original text:

• Detailed (close to text).
• Condensed (brief retelling).

In relation to content:

• Complete (all content).
• Selective (text fragment for perception).

By complexity:

• Uncomplicated.
• Complicated (retelling using certain words, from another person, presentation with elements of an essay). nine0012

According to the structure of the original text:

• Narrative.
• Description.
• Reasoning.
• Combined character.

Learning to present should begin with a narrative text that has a clear plot, close and understandable to a junior high school student. The story should have a small number of episodes.

In the textbook “Russian language. Grade 4 “there are several examples of exercises with presentations.
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Work on the presentation in the second grade (with an example from the textbook)

1. Perception of the text. Do not get carried away with long introductory conversations: it is enough to set the task of understanding before reading. Children perceive the text through hearing, through sight. You can vary: for example, the teacher reads aloud, the students simultaneously follow the text in the book.

On one of the golden autumn days, the cranes gathered to fly away. As the sun rose, the birds rose high.
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They circled over their native swamp and reached out to distant warm countries. Their parting voices are heard from the clear sky.

Goodbye, goodbye, cranes!

(According to I. Sokolov-Mikitov)

2. Structural and content analysis of the text. It is one of the main tasks: to determine the theme of the work.

Who and what is the text talking about? How can it be titled? Choose one of the headings: “Golden Autumn Days”, “Cranes Fly”, “Cranes Fly Away”. What title did you choose and why?
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3. Working with a prepared plan – a questionnaire. Search for answers to questions.

When did the cranes gather for departure?

When did they fly?

Where did they fly?

How did the birds say goodbye to their homeland?

How did the author say goodbye to the cranes?

4. Spelling training. Since the second graders do not know the spelling, the preparation is that the children find difficult words, and the teacher pronounces these words with the students, writes them down on the board. nine0012
5. Collective oral retelling of the text with correction ( at the first stages of training).
6. Re-perception of text (read by teacher or students).
7. Written retelling of the text. Passes as independent work. The teacher individually helps students who need it.
8. Self test. The teacher reminds about difficult words on the blackboard.

Text content prediction technique

1. Only the name is offered to children. The teacher asks: “What do you think the text could be about?”
2. Gradually open points of the plan. Each time, students make assumptions about what this part of the text can talk about. Predicting, children create their own stories according to the topic and plan.
3. Listen to text. It is important for children to find out whether they guessed right or not. This is how active listening develops.
4. Content and structural text analysis. The teacher asks: “Does the title match the content of the text? Does the plan fit?” Children answer, give arguments. nine0012

Statement check

In the second grade, checking work should be educational in nature. So that children are not afraid, you can allow them to write with pencils. If children write with pens, at the first check the teacher marks the mistakes with a pencil. It shouldn’t be red. At the reflection lesson, children can rewrite the text, taking into account corrections, and only after that marks are given.

You can put two marks: for content and speech design and for literacy, or one mark in general for presentation. The school should have a single standard. Teachers decide collectively how many marks are given: one or two.
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Criteria for evaluating presentations

Evaluation of content and speech design:

• “5” – the factual material is presented logically, consistently, the meaning of the text is fully conveyed.
• “4” – the content is disclosed quite fully, the logic is observed. No more than three errors (meaningful or verbal) were made.
• “3” – the logic and sequence of the presentation of thoughts are violated, mistakes are made (4-6, meaningful and speech).

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Literacy score:

• “5” – a few fixes.
• “4” – 3 spelling errors, 1 punctuation.
• “3” – 4-6 spelling, 2 punctuation errors.

Overall rating:

• “5” – the author’s text is correctly and consistently reproduced, there are no speech and spelling errors, 1-2 corrections were made.
• “4” – the sequence of presentation of thoughts is slightly violated, there are single (1-2) factual and verbal inaccuracies, 1-2 spelling errors, 1-2 corrections. nine0012
• “3” – there are some deviations from the author’s text, some violations were made in the sequence of presentation of thoughts, in the construction of 2-3 sentences, the dictionary is poor, 3-6 spelling errors and 1-2 corrections.

Read also:

Morphological analysis of the word in elementary grades

Systematic preparation for VPR in the Russian language in the 4th grade

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Russian language: lessons of generalization and systematization of knowledge in elementary school

Teaching children to work with text

Common errors

Speech flaws:

• Incorrect definition of sentence boundaries in the text.
• Communication failure in phrases.
• Unjustified repetition of a word.
• Incorrect or inaccurate use of words. nine0012

Shortcomings in the content and construction of the text:

• Distortion of the content of the text.
• Entering extra facts.
• Omission of the main parts of the text, important facts.
• Sequence violation.
• No red lines.

Note that in elementary school, special attention is paid to working with detailed retelling. In grades 1-2, work on drawing up plans is carried out under the supervision of the teacher. In the third grade, work continues with ready-made plans. At the same time, the teacher shows how the content can be presented in different ways. In the fourth grade, children begin to learn how to retell briefly (they already independently identify the main idea of ​​each part of the text), and also perform complex tasks – for example, retelling from another person.
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Poetry of the Silver Age. Grade 11. To help a schoolchild

Olga Razumikhina is a graduate of the Literary Institute named after. A. M. Gorky, book reviewer and proofreader, as well as a tutor in Russian language and literature. Every week she comments on the works that students in grades 9-11 go through.

The column “To help the student” will be useful both for those who just want to refresh the memory of the plot of a particular book, and for those who look deeper. In the materials of O. Razumikhina there are historical references, references to the works of literary critics, as well as indications of curious details and “Easter eggs” in the texts of writers of the 18th-20th centuries. nine0208

Text: Olga Razumikhina

The Silver Age of Poetry

The end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century in Russia is usually called the “Silver Age of Russian Literature”. Why Silver, you ask? Because the “Golden Age” is called another era – the time when A. S. Pushkin, M. Yu. Lermontov, N. V. Gogol created . Initially, this term, coined by the critic M. A. Antonovich , referred only to the first half of the 19th century, but then “captured” I. S. Turgenev , and F. M. Dostoevsky, and A. A. Fet with F. I. Tyutchev.

True, in those days, poets and writers for the most part did not become the founders of literary movements, did not draw up manifestos. Yes, the early poetry of Pushkin and Lermontov can be attributed to romanticism, but it appeared in the West even before the future geniuses took up the pen; then realism triumphed, and some critics, such as F. V. Bulgarin , contemptuously called the works created in line with this trend “naturalistic”, indicating that the writers, in their opinion, were too carried away by the everyday writing of “dirty” scenes from everyday life. But the poets of the Silver Age formed directions more than consciously – and each of them had his own ideology and artistic principles. nine0005

Symbolism

Symbolism, the earliest literary trend of the Silver Age, was also, strictly speaking, not invented by Russian authors: this term was born among French poets. However, in Russia it was rethought and received a new development. Moreover, the trend became so popular that the authors who worked within its framework were divided into “generations” of older and younger symbolists.

It is customary to refer to senior symbolists such poets as K. D. Balmont, V. Ya. Bryusov, D. S. Merezhkovsky and Z. N. Gippius , – their lyrical heroes resolutely rejected reality and preferred to live in an abstract world of ideas, free fantasies and inspiration. The younger symbolists – these are such famous poets as A. A. Blok and Andrei Bely – also argued that reality is far from ideal, but strove for a more specific ideal: a world where Eternal Femininity reigns, that power that triumphs in Paradise, described by the medieval poet Dante in the Divine Comedy. Having reached the highest of Heavens, Dante meets Beatrice – a woman in whom the earthly and divine principles have merged:

Oh, what a thrill seized my soul,

When I turned to Beatrice

And I didn’t see anything, even though I was standing

Near her and in the world of all greatness!

Especially many similar female images are found in the lyrics by A. A. Blok , the author of the article “On the current state of Russian symbolism” (1910). The lyrical heroes of his poems yearn for the “Beautiful Lady” or “The Stranger”. This is the name of one of the most famous poems of this author: it tells about a mysterious lady who, like a beautiful vision, finds herself in a tavern among “drunkards with rabbit eyes”. The hero does not understand whether he really sees a woman or she only seems to him – as a reflection of a dream of divine love:

And every evening at the appointed hour

(Is it only a dream of mine?)

A girl’s figure, seized by silks,

Moves in the foggy window.

<...>

and are treated with ancient beliefs

Her elastic silk,

and a hat with mourning feathers,

and a narrow hand in the rings. ( 1906 )

As follows from the name of the direction, its authors used many symbols. A symbol differs from an image in that it has multiple meanings at once. For example, a rose can be both a symbol of love and a sign of discord and even enmity (remember the War of the Scarlet and White Roses), as well as grief. However, some critics believed that the Symbolists sometimes “soared” too much above the earthly world – so much so that it became ridiculous. So, V.S.0005

Chandeliers are burning in the sky,

And below is darkness.

Did you go to him or not?

Tell me!

<...>

And do not call the owl of prudence

You this night!

Donkeys of patience and elephants of thought

They ran away. (1895)

Acmeism

Another literary trend of the Silver Age – acmeism – can be called almost the complete opposite of symbolism. Poets belonging to this camp preached “beautiful clarity” and instead of symbols used quite specific details that came from a “rough, but still beautiful, in their opinion, world.” nine0052 A. A. Akhmatova summed up the experience of the acmeist poets in the poem “I don’t need odic rati…”, written already in 1940. “Odic” here is a derivative of the word “ode”, that is, an exalted classicist work written in honor of a person or event. In this poem, we read:0004 Like burdock and quinoa.

Angry shouting, Fresh smell,

The mysterious mold on the wall …

and the verse is already sounding, lean, gentle,

to the joy of you and me. (1940)

In acmeists, internal contradictions in the souls of lyrical heroes are reflected through awkward movements, emotional outbursts. In one of the most famous poems of the same Akhmatova – “The Song of the Last Meeting” – a girl, worrying about a break with her lover, “. nine0207 .. put on the right hand / Glove from the left hand . Fans (and especially admirers) of modern poetry liked this work so much that they began to “stamp” their own creations with almost verbatim quotes. So, in the literary drawing room of N. S. Gumilyov , one lady read with inspiration about how she “… put a shoe from her left foot / On her right foot.” Gumilyov sarcastically called such poetesses “podahmatovkas”.

Acmeists sometimes also called themselves “Adamists”, referring listeners to the figure of Adam – the first man on Earth, who, according to legend, gave names to all animals, plants and objects. The word “acmeism” comes from the Greek “acme”, which means “peak, the highest point of something.” In the ranks of the acmeists, in addition to Akhmatova, there were O. E. Mandelstam – author of the article “Morning of Acmeism” (1912) – and, of course, N. S. Gumilyov himself.

Futurism

Futurists (from the Latin word futurum – “future”) did not try to escape from the world into an “ivory tower”: they dreamed of changing this world. Representatives of this direction became famous for the most outrageous statements and antics. So, in 1912, they issued a manifesto called “Slapping the Face of Public Taste”, in which they stated: “The past is close. <...> Pushkin is more incomprehensible than hieroglyphs. Leave Pushkin, Dostoyevsky , Tolstoy and so on. and so on. from the Steamboat of Modernity. Further, they listed the writers and poets who, in their opinion, “need only a dacha on the river”: this list included the symbolist A. A. Blok, and also – no less than – Maxim Gorky . The manifesto affirmed the following rights of poets:

1. To increase the vocabulary in its volume with arbitrary and derivative words (Word-innovation).
2. The irresistible hatred for the language that existed before them. nine0012
3. With horror, remove from your proud brow the Wreath of penny glory you made from bath brooms.
4. To stand on a block of the word “we” in the midst of a sea of ​​whistling and indignation.

The Futurists called for a World Revolution and often propagated their ideas, shocking the public. They put make-up on their faces, and once VV Mayakovsky appeared in public in a woman’s yellow jacket. However, all these tricks were just means to achieve the goal: to find as many like-minded people as possible and invite them to your “camp”. nine0005

Remaining true to the principles reflected in the manifesto, the Futurists broke the norms of the Russian literary language. Mayakovsky, as many people know, developed his own way of graphic spelling – “Lesannya”:

drain

lips

from the cold,

BUBLE

whispering: 9000 9000 9000 9000,000 “In four years

here

will be

garden city!”

V. Khlebnikov concentrated on inventing new words. In Velimir Khlebnikov’s Dictionary of Neologisms, published already in 1995, there were as many as 560 pages. The poem below is one of the most famous experiments of the innovative poet:0052 The thinnest veins,

Grasshopper put in the body of the belly

There are many coastal herbs and ver.

“Ping, ping, ping!” the zinziver rattled.

Oh, swan!

Oh, light up!

Imagism

Least of all, perhaps, in the Silver Age, such a direction as Imagism “lasted” – a direction whose representatives saw the primary task in creating a system of images that could shock the reader’s imagination, make him seem to see bright picture before my eyes. “Order of the Imagists” at 1918 founded A. B. Mariengof , author of “The Novel Without Lies” and “Cynics”. The most famous member of the association was S. A. Yesenin . The poet, best known for the poems “The Golden Grove Dissuaded”, “A Letter to a Woman” and “We Are Now Leaving a Little”, wrote the theoretical work “Keys of Mary” (1918) when he was an Imagist, which began like this:

Ornament is music . The rows of its lines in the most wonderful and very subtle distributions are like the melody of some one eternal song in front of the universe. His images and figures are some kind of one uninterrupted worship of those who live at any hour and in any place. But no one has merged with it so beautifully <...> as our ancient Rus’, where almost every thing, through its every sound, tells us with signs that here we are only on the way, <...> that somewhere far away , under the ice of our muscular sensations, the heavenly siren sings to us and that behind the flurry of our earthly events the coast is not far away. nine0005

In this article (where the word “Maria” means “soul”), Yesenin tried to explain the importance of ornament for Russian and world culture in general, as well as to develop a unique classification of images, where the most valuable find was the “angelic” image. However, it was not entirely clear. So, given the highly controversial ideological component of the trend, it is not surprising that Imagism did not become such a famous trend as symbolism or acmeism. However, he still brought many masterpieces to the treasury of Russian classics. What are only Yesenin’s lines from the unfinished poem “It’s good for them to stand and watch”:

That’s why in the September skre

On dry and cold loam,

Head smashed against the fence,

Berries covered with blood.

OBERIU

Finally, another noteworthy literary direction of the Silver Age was OBERIU – “Unification of Real Art”. The abbreviation is associated among literary critics primarily with the imaans D. I. Kharms and A. I. Vvedensky . These poets created absurd, sometimes funny, and sometimes very sad poetic texts. You probably heard this poem by Harms:

A person

with a club and a bag of

and a long journey,

came out of the house and went on a long journey

.